


The Sibling Trap

by sleepov3r



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming Out, Dewey has ADHD, Donald is a good parent, Gen, Gender Issues, Huey and Webby are autistic, I continue to give myself the Donald/Della sibling content I crave, Parent Trap AU, Trans Donald Duck, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, camp Duckburg references if you squint, eventually, trans girl huey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24009550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepov3r/pseuds/sleepov3r
Summary: After Della barely survived the crash of the Spear of Selene, Donald decided she wasn't fit to raise kids. He won custody of two of the three triplets and left McDuck Manor for good, and he and Della didn't see or speak for a long time after.Years later, Huey and Dewey meet their long-lost brother Louie at summer camp, along with his sort-of sister, Webby. They agree to switch places, with Dewey posing as Louie and Huey posing as Webby. They attempt to keep up this charade for as long as they can before Donald and Della notice and eventually have to meet up in order to switch them back.
Comments: 32
Kudos: 151





	1. Chapter 1

“...and I’ll be back in three weeks to pick you up.” Donald hauled the last bag into the cabin and looked to Huey and Dewey. “You boys be good.”

“Yes, Uncle Donald,” they chorused before allowing them to scoop them both up in a hug, his fifth one since they’d arrived at camp.

“Make sure you eat breakfast every morning!” Donald said, inching towards the door, “And ask for help if you need it! Don’t be afraid to make friends with other campers! And Dewey, don’t forget to take your medicine!” 

“Yes, Uncle Donald,” Huey and Dewey said again, practically pushing their uncle out the door.

Donald sighed and smiled at his kids. “I can’t wait to hear all about your adventures.”

“We’ll write every week,” Huey promised.

“Have fun!” Donald finally made it out the door, leaving Huey and Dewey in the cabin surrounded by other campers unpacking and saying their own goodbyes to their own families.

“Adventures,” Dewey muttered, climbing up to the top bunk without even bothering to unpack his suitcase, “Like any real adventures could happen at this place. There’s no archery range, no zipline, and the lake doesn’t even have any alligators.”

“But look at this itinerary!” Huey pulled out a pamphlet Uncle Donald had gotten at registration and held it up to Dewey. “Canoe races, scavenger hunts, and next week we have color war against the other cabins!”

“But where’s the danger? Where’s the action?! The heart?!”

“Okay, if you’re gonna be like this the whole time, then I’m bunking with someone else,” Huey threatened.

“I just can’t imagine anything truly exciting happening here,” Dewey said wistfully, “It feels like we’re here just to be here, you know?”

“I really don’t.”

“I bet our destiny has something really great in store,” Dewey went on, ignoring Huey. “It’s just somewhere far away from here.”

///

“Ah, just like it was thirty years ago!” Della inhaled the forest air graciously. “You kids are gonna love it here!”

“I hope the cabins have less spiders than these woods,” Louie said with a shiver. “I’ve already counted, like, six.”

“Oh, you’ll be having so much fun, you’ll barely even notice the spiders.”

“That was not the answer I was hoping for, Mom.”

“Don’t worry, Louie. I’ll protect you!” Webby said, and made a karate-chopping motion to demonstrate.

“This is gonna be a long three weeks,” Louie grumbled, pulling up his hood.

The trio finally reached their cabin, and Della hauled the kids’ luggage inside for them. She exchanged a brief word with the counselor while Louie and Webby claimed a bunk.

“Ooh, look at this itinerary!” Webby leaned over the edge of the top bunk to show Louie a pamphlet. “Color war?! I didn’t think they allowed war games at kids’ camps! Oh man, I can’t wait!”

“Glad you’ll at least be on my team for that one,” Louie replied, stretching out on the bottom bunk and ignoring his still-packed suitcase.

“Okay, you two, I’m gonna get going!” Della called. Louie sprung up and ran over to his mom, clinging to her prosthetic leg.

“Can’t you at least stay for lunch?” He asked.

“Louie, honey, if I don’t leave now you’re gonna want me to stay the whole time.”

“Okay.” He reluctantly let go.

“Hey, it’s okay, kiddo.” Della knelt down to smooth his cheeks, the same way she’d done ever since he was an infant. “I’ll be back soon. You’re gonna make so many new friends you’ll barely even think about your dumb mom.”

“Heh.” Louie gave her a half-hearted smile.

Della stood and waved to him and Webby. “Have fun, kids! I’ll be back soon!”


	2. Chapter 2

Huey prayed that this would be the last time he’d find himself seated outside the camp director’s office. He began running through the list in his mind of all the possible ways Uncle Donald might react to hearing he and Dewey had gotten in trouble again. Most of them involved him squawking and flapping about while red in the face. None of them were pretty.

Huey looked to the others to see how they were coping. Dewey bounced a leg while humming to himself, looking overall unaffected. The girl in pink--Webby, she’d said her name was--looked worried as well, her eyes cast downwards and her fingers playing with the ends of her bobbed hair. The boy in the green hoodie--Louie--looked annoyed enough for both him and Webby. He was incessantly brushing crumbs out of his hair and mumbling while shooting the occasional nasty glance at Dewey.

The door to the director’s office opened, and the camp director stepped out. “Okay, kids. I’ve decided not to call your parents--”

Huey and Webby exhaled in unison.

“--so long as you agree to clean the mess hall. It’s the least you can do after today’s fiasco.”

Dewey and Louie groaned in unison.

“Do we have to--” Dewey began.

“--We’ll do it!” Huey pulled Dewey out of his seat and began shoving him out the door. “We’ll get started right now!”

“But we’ll miss arts and crafts!” Webby said, chasing after them. “We were gonna learn how to make friendship bracelets!”

“You should have thought of that before you threw your sandwich at Dewey’s head,” Huey said.

“Hey, don’t blame Webby, it was your brother who started the food fight!” Louie said, giving Dewey another glare.

“Junior Woodchuck rule number 842: ‘Pick your battles,’” Huey recited.

“Okay, sure, except this isn’t Junior Woodchuck camp!” Louie rolled his eyes. “Gosh, you’re both so annoying.”

“Excuse you, I’m just trying to spice things up around here!” Dewey said as Huey pushed him into the mess hall and handed him a broom. “The most interesting thing that’s happened here so far is when you refused to go in the lake because some guy drowned in it or something.” He said, pointing to Louie. “At this point I’m gonna have nothing to tell Uncle Donald. Well, nothing that won’t get him mad at me.”

“Wait.” Louie held up a hand. “You have an uncle named Donald?”

“Yeah? So?”

“I do too. At least I think so. I’ve never met him, and my mom doesn’t ever talk about him.”

“Wait, how old is your mom?” Huey asked.

“Thirty-six.”

“So is Uncle Donald!” Huey dropped the broom and began to pace. “This can’t be a coincidence. Dewey, do you have the photo?”

“Of course.” Dewey fished a printed photograph out of his pocket. He held it out to Louie and Webby. “This is our mom. It’s the only photo we have of her.”

Webby and Louie looked at one another, silent for a long moment. Then Louie finally said, “But that’s… that’s _my_ mom.”

“ _Our_ mom,” said Huey.

“ _Our_ mom?” Dewey and Louie echoed.

“Don’t you guys get it?!” Huey’s arms began to flap by his sides. “Louie, you’re our brother!”

“That’s crazy, I… I can’t be,” Louie said, though he was sounding less and less sure by the second. “Webby, what do you--”

“Ohhhhhh myyyyyy goshhhhhh!!!” Now Webby began to bounce. “All of my research makes so much sense now! Louie’s missing family was never missing, they were in Duckburg the whole time! And all this time I thought you and your uncle were dead and Della and Scrooge were just trying to cover it up!”

“I really wish you didn’t sound so cheery saying that,” Dewey said.

“Louie, isn’t this awesome?! We found your brothers!”

Louie, who had been looking down at the floor, turned his gaze back up to Huey and Dewey. Huey gave him an encouraging smile. Dewey gave him a double thumbs up.

“Yeah,” Louie admitted softly, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“You guys realize what we have to do now, right?” said Dewey.

“What’s that?” Huey asked.

“Swap places, obviously! Trust me, I saw it in a movie once, it’ll totally work.”

Webby gasped. “I’ll get to meet the famed Donald Duck, one of the most daring adventurers of all time?”

“Uh, sure, but he may not be… exactly what you’re expecting,” Dewey warned.

“I don’t know about this, Dewey,” Huey cut in, “What happens if we get caught?”

“Then Mom and Uncle Donald have to meet up in order to switch us back, duh!” Dewey said. “Come on, Hue! Don’t you want to meet Mom?”

“Well, sure, but--”

“But nothing. We may never get another chance. And if Louie and Webby are willing to live on our rickety old bucket of a houseboat for a couple of weeks then I’m taking this shot.” Dewey had a look on his face that Huey had rarely seen his brother possess. His brow was creased as if he might cry, but his eyes looked determined, and not in his brash, headstrong, typical Dewey manner. It was more of an “if I don’t try to do this then I’ll regret it for the rest of my life” type of look. Huey couldn’t break Dewey’s heart by saying no, and even if he could, his own heart was telling him that this was the right choice to make. Even if it ended up being for a few weeks, he would get to meet his Mom.

“All right,” Huey said. “But we’ll have to come up with a really solid plan.”

“Well, first off, who’s gonna switch with who?” asked Louie. “We have to plan this carefully. If Mom and Uncle Scrooge suddenly have two boys they’re gonna know something’s up.”

“That’s right,” Webby said, “One of you will have to pretend to be a girl. If you’re--”

“--I’ll do it,” Huey said.

“You’re sure?” Dewey asked, “Because I can rock a skirt if I have to.”

“Yeah. I’m sure. We’ll just say that Webby cut her hair.”

“And I’ll cut mine to look like yours!” said Webby, already removing her hair bow and handing it to Huey.

“Okay then,” Louie said, “So I’ll switch with Dewey. But we’ll have to change our hair, too. Also, like, our whole personalities. Do you talk as much at home as you do here?”

“At least double, or Uncle Donald will probably get suspicious.”

“Ugh, great, I’m exhausted already.” Louie groaned. “Just spend a lot of time in front of the TV and don’t talk and you’ll fool everyone.” He took his phone out of his pocket and held it out to Dewey. “Here’s a list of all the schemes I’ve got running right now at home. If you don’t attend to them, Mom and Uncle Scrooge will probably just assume I’ve gotten better at hiding stuff, so no stress there, but if you mess up even one of them I will have my revenge.”

“Okay, duly noted,” Dewey said, handing Louie’s phone back and looking a little uneasy.

Huey looked to Webby. “Every morning I help Uncle Donald with breakfast at nine o’clock. Make sure to keep him away from the stove as much as possible because he will light things on fire. Not on purpose, but he will. He homeschools Dewey and me and he leaves for his part-time job at three in the afternoon. He expects us to be in bed at seven, but we’re usually up and sneaking around until nine at the earliest, so if you don’t want him to catch on, try to follow that routine.”

“Done and done!” Webby said enthusiastically, scribbling in a glitter-covered notebook that she’d produced from seemingly nowhere. “I spend a lot of time in my room, so just do whatever you’d like. Oh, but I should warn you about my granny.”

“What about her?”

“She, uh, kinda trained me in martial arts and all kinds of weaponry? She used to be a superspy.”

“That explains so much and yet somehow raises even more questions,” Huey mused.

“If she tries to give you lessons, um, do some backflips and tell her you’re feeling a little tired.”

“Backflips. Yeah. Totally know how to do those.”

“So we’re in?” Dewey said. “Like, we’re all set to go?”

“Totally!” Webby said.

“I’m in,” Huey agreed.

“So in,” Louie said. “Let the master con begin!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is told from Della and Donald's points of view, so the kids' names are switched. It'll go back to the kids' points of view after this!

It was a sunny day on the last day of summer camp, almost identical in appearance to the day it had begun. Della hiked up the hill to the cabin, once again appreciating the beauty of the hillside on her way. She arrived to find Louie and Webby already outside, waiting for her on the front step of the cabin. Louie’s eyes got wide as Della approached, and as he threw his arms around her waist she swore she could see tears in his eyes.

“Woah, kiddo, don’t tell me you’re that sad about camp being over?”

“Yeah,” Louie said, his face still buried in the hem of Della’s shirt, “I guess that’s it.”

“Well, you’ll be back next year then for sure. I’m glad you had so much fun!” Della gave him an extra-tight squeeze. She looked to Webby, whose gaze was fixed on Della’s prosthetic leg.

“Everything all right, Webby?”

Webby opened her mouth, looked thoughtful, shut it again, and then randomly burst out, “Did you make any special modifications to your leg?”

“Um, nope, it’s the same as the last time you saw it!” Della promised. “Just a leg!”

“Oh, of course,” Webby said. Then she threw her arms around Della, too. Della was a little taken aback. It wasn’t as if she and Webby weren’t close or had never hugged before, but the way Webby was hugging her felt different, like Webby’s perception of her had shifted. Oh, well. Maybe that was Della’s imagination. Della hugged the little girl back, then stood and hoisted the kids’ bags over her shoulder. “Ready to get on the road, kids?”

///

“Boys!” Uncle Donald burst into the cabin and scooped Huey and Dewey up into a hug before they could even reply. “I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, Uncle Donald,” said Dewey, sounding more sentimental than usual. Donald looked down at him.

“Are you okay?” Donald asked.

“Yeah, just great!” Dewey promised.

“I can’t wait to hear all about camp,” Donald said with a smile. “How about you, Huey?”

“I loved it,” Huey said, “How are you, Uncle Donald? Did you go anywhere while we were here? Any adventures?”

“Can’t say I did,” Donald said. “But who cares about me? I’m just your boring old uncle. I want to hear about you!” He looked to Dewey expectantly.

“Oh, yeah. Stories. Um, well, this one time I heard a story about a guy who died in the lake here at camp…”


	4. Chapter 4

“Whoa.” Huey and Dewey couldn’t help but gape as McDuck Manor came into view. The walls towered above their heads, and the fountain in front gleamed with more gold than either had ever seen in one place. 

Della gave them a puzzled look as they stepped out of the car. “You kids okay?”

“Fine,” They replied together. They each took one of Della’s hands as they walked up the stairs. Huey jumped as the front door opened to reveal a bluish, semi-transparent figure of an elderly dog in a suit.

“Aah! Is that a ghost?!”

The dog raised an eyebrow. “Ever the joker, Miss Vanderquack.”

“Webby, you remember Duckworth, of course,” Della said.

“Oh. Of course.” Huey entered the foyer, sidestepping Duckworth nervously. “So glad to see you again, Duckworth.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Duckworth replied, then vanished into thin air.

“Remember, stay calm,” Dewey hissed under his breath, elbowing Huey. Huey elbowed him back.

“Um, I can take your bags to your rooms for you kids,” Della said, watching them tussle. She gave them both an extra hug and then disappeared down the hall, just as a duck in a red coat and black top hat stepped into the foyer.

“Uncle Scrooge?” Dewey stopped elbowing Huey and turned, eyes wide.

“Ah, laddie, back from camp already? Did they send you home for causing too much trouble?”

“Well, almost,” Dewey admitted.

“That’s my boy!” Scrooge gave him a solid pat on the back.

“You’re not upset?”

“Please, Louie, I know what you’re capable of. I’m just glad you got back in one piece.”

Dewey grinned and gave him a hug. "Me too, Uncle Scrooge."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter this time! Spring semester is over now so hopefully I'll be writing a little more. I also apparently have no idea how to write Scrooge. 'Til next time!


	5. Chapter 5

“You boys need anything?” Uncle Donald opened the door and peered in. Louie and Webby had been lying on the bunk beds, chatting aimlessly, for the last hour or so.

Louie looked up. “Um, no, Uncle Donald, I don’t think so.”

“Are you busy? Can I talk to you?”

“Um, sure?” Louie climbed down from the top bunk and Webby sat up to make room for Donald on the bottom. Donald sat in the middle, the bed sagging beneath their combined weight, and he looked back and forth between them with an eager look in his eye.

“So while you two were away at camp, I made the final arrangements. It’s official now!”

“What is?” Webby asked.

“You don’t remember? We’ve been talking about it for months. We can’t keep living in Duckburg with this job I have.”

“Uh-huh?” Webby nodded along.

“So, we’re moving to Cape Suzette!”

“Oh, right!” Louie cut Webby off before she could say anything. “Cape Suzette! Of course!”

“But what about Duckburg?” Webby burst out, missing the cue from Louie. “We’re gonna leave just like that? What about all the fami--I mean, friends and associates we have here?”

“I know change isn’t easy,” Donald said, putting a hand on Webby’s shoulder, “But this is our best option. Besides, you boys have always talked about wanting to go to Cape Suzette!”

“We totally have!” Louie said, “In fact, I think we’re gonna need a couple minutes to, uh, be excited together! In private! If you don’t mind, Uncle Donald?”

“Uh, of course not.” Donald stood and walked out, and Louie closed the door behind him. 

“This isn’t good,” Louie said.

“Very not good,” Webby agreed, “If we go to Cape Suzette, how are we supposed to get Della and Donald to meet up again?!”

“We’ll have to scheme our way out of this for sure,” said Louie. 

“But first we should let Huey and Dewey know,” said Webby.

“On it.” Louie pulled his phone out of his pocket.

_Louie -- > HDLW_

_ Louie: guys we got a situation _

_ Louie: not a good one _

_ Huey: ??? _

_ Louie: donalds talking about moving to cape suzette and soon _

_ Dewey: and thats?? bad??? _

_ Louie: yeah genius its bad _

_ Louie: its gonna be like ten thousand times harder to get him and mom to meet up again if hes miles away _

_ Huey: Okay, an unexpected complication for sure… _

_ Huey: But it’s okay! We’ll figure something out. _

_ Huey:... _

_ Huey: Any ideas? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally return to this fic after (checks watch)... about six months
> 
> The new episodes got me in a Ducktales mood again so hopefully I'll get around to finishing this story now! It'll only be a couple more chapters after this most likely, so stay tuned!


End file.
